Over 500,000 cyclists rode past a cycle counter in Haggerston, just five months since its installation in August.

The council installed the counter - which is the first ever installed on a public highway in the UK - in Goldsmiths Row which was closed to motor traffic in 2011, and it is now part of a major cycling commuter route.

Brenda Puech from Hackney Cyclists, the borough’s branch of the London Cycling Campaign, was camped out beside the UK’s first digital cycle counter in Goldsmiths Row last week to give the 500,000th cyclist a prize.

It turned out to be Magdalena Kap?an, Hackney Cyclists member, and she received £50 to spend at a cycle shop.

Hackney Cyclists co-ordinator Trevor Parsons said they are now looking forward to the counter hitting the million mark, and to more and more people in the borough benefitting from cycling as a great way to get around and keep healthy.

He said: “Good figures on cycling levels are actually quite hard to come by, which is why we place so much emphasis on the census travel-to-work figures.

“But the census only happens every 10 years - the Goldsmiths Row digital display cycle counter together with four other non-display counters recently installed in the borough, will give us an additional source of very reliable data on trends in cycle traffic year on year.

“Half a million cycle trips being recorded on this street in only five months shows what a major role cycling plays in transport in Hackney, and we think that’s worth celebrating.”